The 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) is one of the representative mobile communication technology standardization organizations. The 3GPP has defined Evolved Packet System (EPS) for next generation communication. The 3GPP also has introduced Mobility Management entity (MME) as a network mobility entity.
Recently, the protocols used in the 3G system of the 3GPP have been improved by the researchers in the field. The researchers have proposed improvement schemes for providing high speed communication service in the next generation mobile communication system. In the conventional communication method, the authentication and security procedures have been performed on the radio access layer. The researchers are focusing on the reinforced security management scheme with the introduction of security protocol concept on the NAS layer in addition to such convention procedures.
In the conventional system architecture, however, the terminal has to select one operator as the service provider. The terminal stores the security and other informations associated with the corresponding operator to connect to the operator. In any case, the corresponding terminal may attempt to receive the service from another operator. For this purpose, the corresponding terminal has to use Universal Subscriber Identity Module (USIM) or Universal Integrated Circuit Card (UICC) corresponding to the operator. That is, since the subscriber identity module is operator-specific, it is not easy for the user to switch between operators.
There is therefore a need of a method and apparatus for storing information for use in access to the operation in the subscriber identity module. In this way, the user is capable of configuring the operator at the initial use of the terminal and switching between operators efficiently.